EX-DEMON Aaron Davey will join Melbourne for its pre-season training camp at Maroochydore in late January as the club continues to contribute to the indigenous coaching cause.
Davey played 178 games for the Demons from 2004 to 2013 after graduating from the rookie list and now works as AFL Cairns' football development manager.
He was interested in becoming a development coach at an AFL club when his playing career ended but was unable to secure a job at the time.
This opportunity with Melbourne will see him link up with the club's coaching group, under Simon Goodwin, from the start of the January 30 trip and observe training and be exposed to elite methods.
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The plan is to upskill Davey and leave him in a stronger position to potentially forge an AFL coaching career, with the hope other clubs will consider doing the same with budding indigenous coaches.
There will again be just three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander coaches in the AFL in 2019: Fremantle's Roger Hayden, Richmond's Xavier Clarke and West Coast's Chance Bateman.
"Three's obviously not a great number, but it's a really good starting point," Davey told AFL.com.au.
"Xavier's obviously proven at NEAFL level as a premiership coach for NT Thunder, so he's got massive aspirations.
"I got my level two accreditation at the back end of my career and a development role would have been ideal, but it wasn't to be.
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"Everything is based around timing as well and, unfortunately, I don't think there was too much change in coaching personnel when I was coming out."
Three Demons staff members – indigenous project officer Matthew Whelan, strategy and education coach Craig Jennings and star defender Neville Jetta – are dedicated to improving the situation.
They have all been involved in, or are planning, trips to the Northern Territory, Cairns and regional Western Australia to target those who typically aren't exposed to leading coaching strategies.
Whelan, who is a close friend and ex-teammate of Davey's, Jennings and Port Adelaide development coach and former club great Chad Cornes travelled to Arnhem Land in November to present on AFL coaching.
There is genuine momentum in the background on this issue, with the AFL Coaches' Association also keen to boost Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander coaching numbers.
Champion footballers Barry Cable (North Melbourne) and Graham 'Polly' Farmer (Geelong) are the only indigenous coaches to ever be in charge of a VFL/AFL club.
